And So The Story Goes
by TeddyBear98
Summary: A series of short, unrelated drabbles based on tumblr prompts, following Team Flash through their crazy lives. Various genres, to be updated at random. Chapter 5: Hammer Time
1. Friends Suck

"I'm sorry, one more time?"

Barry groaned and banged his head against the desk, showing no signs of moving from his newfound position. He was sitting in the Cortex with Caitlin and Cisco, both of whom were clearly quite amused. Barry, on the other hand, clearly was not.

"Cisco, I swear to God, if you ask one more time…" Barry idly threatened.

"No, come on, I'm genuinely curious," Cisco replied, trying to keep a serious edge to his voice but failing; the situation was just too damn funny. "Please, grace us with the tale of how you managed to overshoot the precinct by 30 miles and end up in -"

"Don't say it, Cisco."

"- a lake."

Barry let out another loud groan, and Caitlin clapped a hand over her mouth, trying her best not to laugh for the speedster's sake; it wasn't going very well. Cisco, on the other hand, wasn't attempting to hold anything back at all now and was openly snickering at his friend, a wide grin spread across his face.

"I was tired, alright? I was up half the night with Iris trying to help her meet the deadline for the Flash article she insisted on writing," Barry muttered.

There was a beat of silence that followed, and then, "Was it dirty? I think I can kind of smell it on you."

"I took a shower!" Barry protested, finally bringing his head back up from the desk.

"Mmh, it wasn't long enough," Cisco said with a shrug.

Barry let out an exasperated breath, swiveling in his chair to look at Caitlin. "Will you _please_ say something?" he pleaded, sure she at least would back him up.

Caitlin shrugged as well. "Thank God you don't drive or I'd be getting a phone call at three in the morning from China because you tried to drive five minutes down the road to Rite Aid," she said, an amused smile on her lips.

For a moment, both Barry and Cisco could only bring themselves to stare at their doctor friend, the one who was normally so serious. And then Cisco burst into a wild fit of laughter, which caused Caitlin to start laughing as well.

"That's it, I hate you both," Barry said, standing and running a hand over his face as both his friends continued their laughter at his expense. "I'm going home."

He cast one more look at the two of them as they kept laughing, though Caitlin was clearly trying to reign it in now.

Shaking his head, Barry made it a point to push Cisco from his chair before speeding out of the room, sending Caitlin into another fit of laughter as Cisco fell to the floor.

* * *

 **Prompt:** Thank God you don't drive or I'd be getting a phone call at three in the morning from China because you tried to drive five minutes down the road to Rite Aid


	2. Hide Me

"Dude, you've got to hide me."

At this point in their friendship, Cisco was used to hearing some pretty strange things come out of Barry's mouth. He still hadn't expected for those to be the first words coming from the speedster as he skidded to a stop in the middle of the Cortex. The man raised an eyebrow. Judging by Barry's face, the situation didn't seem too urgent, yet he was scanning the room, looking for the best place to deposit himself that was out of sight.

"Uh…any particular reason?" he asked, standing slowly and giving the hero a curious look.

"Yeah, she's like right behind me and -"

"Barry?"

The voice of Iris came drifting down the hallway, and Barry's eyes widened comically, only adding to Cisco's curiosity.

"I'm out," the speedster said, using his powers to vault himself into the nearest supply closet and slam the door shut. It wasn't long after that Iris came meandering into the Cortex herself, an amused yet devious look on her face and a canister in her right hand.

"Hey, Cisco," she greeted as she spotted him standing there. "Did Barry come through here?" she asked.

"He - might have stopped by briefly," Cisco answered, doing his best _not_ to look towards the supply closet Barry had just ducked into. He wasn't sure what the girl was up to exactly, but he wouldn't give the CSI up – yet.

"I know he's here somewhere," she said with a laugh, her eyes scanning the room.

"Whatcha got there?" Cisco asked, changing the subject to the object clutched in her hand. Iris held it up for him to see.

"Guess who bought silly string!?" she said with a wide grin, and Cisco immediately burst into a fit of laughter.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked once he had gotten himself mostly under control, amusement twinkling in his eyes. " _That's_ what he wanted me to hide him from? Oh my God, he's such -"

He didn't get to finish his sentence as Iris suddenly pointed the canister at him and pressed the top, the colorful string shooting out en masse towards him. Caught off guard, he backed up and hit the desk chair, immediately toppling to the floor in a noisy collision.

"Oh, agh, ew! It's in my mouth, it's in my mouth! Man down!"

"And that's why I wanted to hide!" came Barry's disembodied voice as Iris started laughing now.

"I know you're in the closet, Bar!" she shouted, advancing towards his hiding spot.

"Yeah, good luck Cisco!" the speedster shouted back before the closet door shot open and he was gone in a flash of lightning, just as quickly as he had come.

"Oh, that little -"

Iris stood over the engineer with a smirk on her face.

* * *

 **Prompt:** Guess who bought silly string!?


	3. Killer Friendship

**Takes place after the events of 3x07, "Killer Frost"**

* * *

"Honestly, Cisco, you don't need to walk me home."

Caitlin Snow's voice was soft, but seemed to echo down the quiet, dimly lit street as she walked. Her dark-haired friend was right in step beside her, hands shoved in his pockets as he kept pace. Despite her multiple protests that he did not need to accompany her, that she would be fine alone, he had decided to tag along anyways. She couldn't say that she blamed him – and she couldn't say that she was overly distraught over it, either.

After the night she had had – that they had all had – Cisco's presence made her slightly nervous, though also somehow soothed her. She didn't want to risk hurting anyone else, but she also didn't exactly want to be alone, and his companionship showed that he wasn't mad at her for going full-on Killer Frost and harshly revealing the reason for his brother's death. She couldn't say the same for Barry however, and she once again felt a pang of guilt for driving a wedge between the speedster and the man walking next to her. But there was nothing she could currently do to fix it.

"I want to," Cisco assured her for what must have been the fifth time, his voice firm but gentle, and Caitlin sighed.

"Okay," she said, her voice only a few notches higher than a whisper, and let the subject drop, going quiet. Cisco made no more attempts at to speak either for the moment, the two seemingly lost in their own thoughts but secure in the camaraderie they provided for each other. The silence droned on until they reached their destination just minutes later. Caitlin's apartment wasn't far at all from STAR Labs.

"This is my stop," she said simply, offering him what felt like the lamest smile in the world but attempting to hold it in place, willing it not to morph into the grimace she felt much more like giving.

"Mind if I stay for a while?" he asked, his words simple as well, and Caitlin wasn't sure if he was asking for her sake, or for his, or perhaps both. She gave him a shrug and opened the door to the apartment complex, holding it open for him to follow inside behind her, and the two trudged up to the third floor together. It took her a few seconds of fumbling with still somewhat shaking hands to get the right key, but soon they were inside, and the doctor went straight for the couch, flopping down with an air of 'definitely-never-ever-moving-again.' She felt the couch dip as Cisco sank into the cushion next to her, and there was yet another silence between them as they sat in the dark, somehow comfortable and uncomfortable all at the same time.

"Cisco?" Caitlin spoke, breaking the heaviness settled around them. "Why aren't you mad at me?"

If Cisco was caught off guard or taken by surprise by the question, she didn't see, staring at the wall.

"You didn't do anything wrong," he said. "None of what happened today was your fault."

"It kind of was," she said.

"I don't see it that way."

Caitlin let out a soft huff. She considered for a moment asking him about Barry, if they would ever speak again or if she had ruined any chances of them remaining friends. Instead she said softly, "You should. I deserve to be alone, after what I did." She could feel the exact moment his eyes focused on her.

"I'm not leaving you alone. Not now, not ever. Okay?" he asked, and Caitlin's throat tightened, tears pricking at the edges of her eyes as she brought them to meet his. She should have been the one comforting him, she thought idly, but only nodded, and clung to him tightly as he leaned over to give her a tight hug.

Cisco did not go home that night.

* * *

 **Prompt:** I'm not leaving you alone. Not now, not ever.


	4. Phasing Lessons

**An AU of Barry teaching Wally to phase**

* * *

Wally blinked as a he looked at the large brick wall of the building several feet in front of him, a disbelieving look on his face through his cowl.

"You've got to be kidding me."

Barry stood beside him with his arms crossed over his chest and a light smile tugging at his lips.

"Nope," the older speedster replied. "You said you wanted to learn."

"Yeah, but preferably _without_ breaking every bone in my body. That'd be great."

"We heal fast," Barry pointed out, his smile widening as he watched Wally's reaction. "You'll be fine. Now, take a step back, take a deep breath, and _focus_. Focus on vibrating; it has to be at the natural frequency of the air. You'll know when you get there."

"How?" Wally questioned, raising an eyebrow, and Barry shrugged.

"You just will," he said. "I did it, and I had a bomb strapped to my wrist when I did. If I failed, I would've blown up. The stakes are much lower for you," he added with a chuckle. Wally's eyes widened a bit; that was a story he hadn't heard before. With a sigh, the younger man took a step back as Barry had instructed, closing his eyes and taking a second to simply breathe, emptying his thoughts of everything but the task ahead of him. And then he tapped into his speed and ran –

Directly into the brick wall. He fell backwards with a grunt of surprise, landing on his back on the ground and staring dazedly up at the sky. The sound of Barry's poorly contained laughter brought him back to reality, and he sat up with a groan.

"It didn't work," Wally snapped, shooting a glare Barry's way.

"You didn't do it right," Barry countered, shaking his head amusedly, and Wally huffed. He stood indignantly and moved back towards Barry, staring at the wall and gearing up to try again.

"Focus," Barry said, very unhelpfully in Wally's opinion.

"I got it," Wally said, eyes narrowed as he stared ahead. He took a breath and shot off again, praying, praying, praying –

Smack.

He hit the wall again and landed flat on his back again with a curse, in no rush to get up again as he laid there, bitterly watching a cloud float by.

"I'll tell you what," came Barry's voice from behind him. "We'll see if not having a set of eyes on you will help. I'm gonna take a lap around the city, grab us some coffees. And when I come back, I want to see you standing on the other side of that wall instead of cloud watching."

Wally let out a noise of mild frustration.

"You know, Deadpool wouldn't treat me like this." The younger speedster heard a snort of amusement.

"Deadpool would kick your ass," came the reply as Barry vanished in a gust of wind and lightning.

* * *

 **Prompt:** Deadpool wouldn't treat me like this.


	5. Hammer Time

"God, Iris, this thing weighs a ton! What the hell do you have in here?"

It was a quiet Saturday afternoon in terms of metahuman activity in Central City, and Iris had managed to convince Barry to go shopping with her to look for new clothes. What that really meant was Barry holding Iris's purse as she perused different racks of sweaters in the mall. The girl in question shrugged, turning around to flash Barry a smile.

"All the necessities," she said. "Don't worry about it, Bar."

"Hard to do, considering I'm the one holding it," Barry replied, smiling amusedly back at her.

"Oh get over yourself. You once carried a grown man falling from a window washing platform down the side of a building. You're fine."

"Want to say that any louder so the whole store can hear?"

Iris grinned and smacked his arm playfully. "Just shut up and hold it! I'm almost done, you dork," she said with a laugh. True to her word, she had picked out three sweaters she liked just five minutes later.

"Oh, shoot. Bar, is my wallet in there?" she asked as they began to make their way to the registers. "I just remembered I took it out yesterday and I don't know if I put it back in."

"It better be. I don't have any cash on me to loan you," Barry said with a chuckle, unzipping the bag to rifle through it. "Yeah, it's right –" he started to say, but paused. "Uhm, Iris?"

Iris raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Why do you have a hammer in your purse?"

Iris shrugged. "For protection," she said, not even taken aback by the question. "Can't always have you there to save my ass; a girl's gotta take care of herself." Barry gawked at her.

"...and you didn't think there was anything better for that?" he asked slowly. "Like, I don't know maybe, a gun?"

"No one suspects a hammer."

Barry was still eyeing her with disbelief.

"Well, yeah, but –"

"Barry?"

He cocked an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Just hand me the wallet."

* * *

 **Prompt:** Why do you have a hammer in your purse?


End file.
